Cholomondeley de Fonseka Goonewardene (චොල්මොණ්ඩලේ ද නොව චමලි ද නොව චම්ලි) (16 September 1917 – 25 November 2006) was a prominent Sri Lankan politician, Member of Parliament, and cabinet minister. Born in Kalutara to a local

Muhandiram Muhandiram ( si, මුහන්දිරම්, ta, முகாந்திரம்) was a post in the native headmen system in the lower-country (coastal districts) of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during the colonial era. It was awarded as a title o ...

family, Goonewardene was educated at

Holy Cross College, Kalutara Holy Cross College is a Roman Catholic school in Kalutara, Sri Lanka. History According to the historical annals, during the latter half of the 19th century a Burgher national named Brohier had taken the initiative to start a private School ...

and

S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia , motto_translation = Be Thou Forever , song = Thomian Song , athletics = Yes , sports = Yes , nickname = Thora , denomination = Anglican , patron ...

. He later qualified as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

and started his legal practice in Unofficial Bar in Kalutara in 1946. He was one of the early members of the

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

Lanka Sama Samaja Party The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP (Literal translation, literally: Lanka Socialist Party, Sinhalese language, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil language, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமா� ...

– the first political party in Sri Lanka- and founded its

Kalutara Kalutara ( si, කළුතර, ta, களுத்துறை) or Kalutota is a major city in Kalutara District, Western Province, Sri Lanka. It is also the administrative capital of Kalutara District. It is located approximately south o ...

Branch in 1937 and in 1940 he was elected to the Kalutara Urban Council. Giving up his legal practice, Goonewardene took up full time political work. Representing the

he was the member of parliament on several occasions for the Kalutara electorate from 1947 to 1977 and between such terms he served as Chairman of the Kalutara Urban Council from 1954 to 1956 and again in the 1960s. In June 1964 he was appointed Minister of Works in the

First Sirimavo Bandaranaike cabinet The First Sirimavo Bandaranaike cabinet was the central government of Ceylon led by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike ( si, සිරිමා රත්වත්තේ ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරන ...

. He was the last surviving member to have served on the first Parliament of Ceylon. He was a cousin of Leslie Goonewardene.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goonewardene, Cholomondeley 1917 births Members of the 1st Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 3rd Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 4th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 5th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 6th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 7th Parliament of Ceylon Lanka Sama Samaja Party politicians Ceylonese advocates 2006 deaths